From Titans (Book 4) (3 page)

Skylar

Later that evening, I went
home. The home Mason had purchased and surprised me with, a place
we could call our own away from his family. It was our own private
five-bedroom, five-thousand-square-foot getaway. Its brick façade
and manicured lawn looked similar to Nick
’
s house, partially because
it was only a block away.

Mason wanted to be close to his family.
Being demigods made life unpredictable, and he knew we were all
stronger and safer in greater numbers. He also helped Zeus,
Poseidon, and Hades purchase a house to share on the same
block.

As soon as I opened the
door, I ran to the backyard and opened a gate. A dozen dogs of
different breeds greeted me with such love and happiness it was
hard to be in a foul mood. With their tails wagging and tongues out
ready to lick me, they piled on me. I sprawled out and surrendered
on the grass as they greeted me like they hadn
’
t seen me all
week.

After the incident with
the hell hounds from the underworld, Mason wanted to adopt dogs
from the pound to replace the bad memory with a better one. We
couldn
’
t choose. So instead of rescuing just one, we decided to take
them all home. Having a big backyard gave us room to do so. Mason
also hired a private dog trainer, dog walker, and a daily dog poop
cleaner since we would be preoccupied with getting Bella Amore
fixed up. He was thoughtful that way.

I made sure to pet each one. They had been
named after the gods. The hard-to-tame one with a black, thick coat
we called Medusa. The Maltese with a silky white coat—Aphrodite.
The domineering golden retriever—Zeus. The mixed breed with pretty
blue eyes was named after Poseidon. One with lots of spunk and
attitude—Hades. My favorite, a husky with a sharp sense of smell
and keen eyes, I named Mason.

Picking Mason out of the
group, I cradled and snuggled him as if he were my Mason. “I miss
you so much. Help me find you. Where are you?” My chest deflated as
I released a long, painful breath. After rubbing
Mason
’
s head and stroking his belly, I put him down and slid the
door open that led to the family room.

I allowed the dogs to
follow me inside the house. Some left a trail of dirt on the
hardwood floors, but I didn
’
t mind. It would be easy to
clean. The dogs eagerly waited with their tails wagging as I poured
kibble in their bowls. Watching them made me happy and temporarily
took some pain away. After they finished, I let them out again,
except for Mason. Before he was taken, Mason and I would play fetch
with the dogs, but ever since he disappeared, I
hadn
’
t been in the mood.

Dog Mason followed me to the kitchen and
watched as I cleaned up the mess. Then he followed me to the
hallway to the garage, where I turned on the house alarm, and
finally upstairs. He sat by the bathroom door while I showered and
then watched me brush my teeth and slip under the covers.

“
Come on, Mason.” I tapped
the bed.

Mason jumped, licked my face, and lay next
to me on our plush, king-sized bed. Reaching over to the bedside
table, I picked up my phone and called Mom as I promised I
would.

“
Skylar.” She answered on
the first ring. “Are you in bed?”

“
Yes.” Without thinking I
said, “Mason is with me.” While I stroked his belly, I realized Mom
would have gotten the wrong idea. She must have thought I was
crazy. “I meant Mason the dog. You remember, don
’
t you?” My eyes flew
to the picture of Mason and me on the dresser and then to the large
flat screen mounted adjacent to it.

“
Yes, of course. Dog Mason
is cute. I
’
m glad
he
’
s
keeping you company.”

My parents, the Grand family, and Zeus,
Poseidon, and Hades had been over for a dinner party the week after
I moved in. Mason had food catered from an Italian restaurant close
to our place since Bella Amore was still remodeling. Everything had
seemed so normal then. I drifted off thinking of that wonderful
night.

“
Can you pass me the
salad?” Mom asked.

“
Yes, mother.” Hades
smirked, passing the bowl to her from across the table. It was
still hard to get used to the fact that my mother was the
gods
’
mother, but regardless, she seemed much closer to me than to
them. Perhaps because they were not just grownups but ancient, and
in her eyes, I remained a teenager who needed guidance from her.
Who knew?

Mom scooped some salad onto my plate.

“
Thanks,
” I said, gazing at her
pregnant belly. My half-brother or half-sister would be born in
less than six months. This was another issue I had yet to fully
accept. Hephaestus, one of Zeus
’
s sons, had impregnated my mom by
force. We all prayed the baby would turn out to be like my mother
rather than the father.

“
Eat up, Mom.” Zeus passed
her the plate of bread. “You
’
re eating for two.”

“
She
’
s fine.” My father
stepped in. He had been quiet during the beginning of our dinner.
He had to adjust to his wife turning out to be Rhea, too. But they
loved each other, and because of that, they cleared the
misunderstandings and the hurt for a better future.

“
Look what I learned to
do. I learned this trick from Mason.” Nick used his light and
raised the meatball from his dish. An electric sizzling light
crackled around it as it paused in midair. “Pretty cool.” His grin
shone as bright.

“
I
’
m still better at it,” Mason
joked.

“
Show off,”
Hades mumbled.
“Just like Zeus.” He snickered and snapped his fingers. The
meatball puffed up in flames and dropped on the table
linen.

Poseidon pointed where the fire grew and
water from his cup flowed out like a fire extinguisher. Steam rose
from the table.

“
Could we have a normal
dinner?” Everett rolled his eyes and ran his hand down his face. As
for everyone else, they had a good laugh and continued their dinner
as if nothing had
happened.

“
Boys will be boys.” Kayla
shook her head.

Amanda rolled her eyes. “I believe you mean
gods will be gods.”

“
Anyway, honey.
I
’
m
glad you called,” Mom continued. “I just want to make sure
you
’
re okay. The Oracles are doing all they can to find Mason and
so are your father and I. Hang in there.”

I snuggled closer to dog Mason. At that
point, nothing else comforted me.

“
I know, Mom.”

Mom was being a mom,
trying to make things better. Truthfully, everyone telling me
something would turn up frustrated me. Those words were not the
ones I wanted to hear. I aggravated even myself. Having no leads to
follow or clues to where Mason had been taken, I was simply lost,
and I didn
’
t know where to search for
him.

“
Will you come visit me,
or shall I visit you? Mason did well finding your new home.
It
’s
beautiful.
”

“
He did,
didn
’
t he?
” I smiled briefly.
“Will you be attending the meeting with the Oracles
tomorrow?”

“
Yes, your father and I
will be there. We wouldn
’
t miss it for
anything.”

“
Then maybe we can have
dinner together afterward.”

“
Sounds like a plan. Try
to get some sleep. It won
’
t do Mason any good if
you
’
re not well when the time comes to be there for
him.”

“
Okay.”
I sighed. I didn
’
t mean to sound like a
downer, but I couldn
’
t help myself. A heavy brick had
fallen on my shoulders, pressing harder, weighing me down every day
without Mason. But when I thought about our happy days, it put a
smile on my face. Like the day when he first showed me our new
home.

“
You passed your house,
Mason.”
I laughed.
“Did you forget where you live?”

Mason threw a quick smirk
my way before looking back to the road ahead. “
I don’
t live there
anymore.”

“
What? What are you
talking about?” I paused. “Wait. You and Nick
didn
’
t—”

“
No.” He cut me off
softly. “Nick and I are like brothers. He would never kick me out.
There might be times when he wanted to and I the same, but we would
never.”

Mason pulled into the driveway of a new home
I had admired every time I drove by. The builder had torn down a
block of old homes and built bigger, new ones. The house was
exquisite. Cobblestones paved the driveway. A three-car garage was
attached to the house. The front yard looked bare, but I imagined
it filled with rose bushes and various colorful flowers. The beige
façade appealed to me, with brown trim around the windows, making
them stand out.

“
You live here?”
I squealed.

Mason got out of the car.
Using gods
’
speed, he opened my door just as my hand touched
the handle. “No,
we
live here.
”

He guided me out of the car and led me to
the front double wooden door with frosted-glass windows.

“
I can
’
t believe you bought a
new house. When? You never told me.”

“
I wanted it to be a
surprise. So…
surprise.
” Mason reached inside
his jeans pocket, took out a key, and opened the door. “We
can
’
t live with my family forever. When we get married—” he
glanced at my diamond
engagement
ring “—which should be
soon, we
’
ll need to start our family. And I would like to provide a
nice house for my wife and kids.” He kissed my forehead.
“
But don’
t worry. I
’
m not in a rush to have kids.
I
’
m
going to be selfish and make sure we have plenty of fun, just the
two of us. So, soon-to-be Mrs. Grand.” Mason scooped me off my
feet. “Welcome to our humble home.”